On the first day I took the tour and did some ministry on the street. At the temple I started talking to an older tour guide named Vaughn. He stopped the conversation when I told him that the Bible never teaches God is an exalted man, but instead teaches God isn't a man of any sort (Hoses 11:9). He at first said there was only 1 God, but after I quoted Abraham 4-5, he readily admitted that God had a God and we can become Gods as well.

My ministry on the street was severely limited due to the LDS authorities telling the cops that the sidewalk outside their temple wasn’t public property until after their open house and dedication. So they had a designated free speech zone for me on the other side of a busy street! (If I had more time, I would have got the ACLU after them! They sued Brigham City, UT several years ago over this similar matter and won.) I only got 5 papers out, but had a good conversation with 3 ladies in an SUV. One said she couldn't understand why I was here and kept saying that my God is the same person as her God. Other cars were stopping to talk or yell at me. Stuff like, "We don't do this in front of your church," "you're just jealous," "weirdo," and "it's illegal for you to hold your sign on the street."

The second day I got flipped off at least 7 times, got a handful of thumbs down, one older lady stuck her tongue out at me, other choice names were thrown out at me, one truck got way too close to the curb driving by, and had 3 angry drivers stop to verbally let me have it. One hypocritically told me to "live and let live!"

One younger guy (a Returned Missionary) stopped to ask me how Joseph lied and wasn't even aware that he was a polygamist!!! After I gave this driver some clear cases of Smith lying, driver said that this was all the evidence of man and not of God! Driver bolted out of there after I told him that *all* the evidence that can be given counts against Smith.

I did get a number of thumbs up too throughout the day. I only got 2 papers out. One was to an older couple after I offered and took their picture. The other was a gal who stopped by. I gave her a DVD too.

The penultimate day was quite eventful. I had lots of good conversations. I recall Wallen coming by to talk to me. He took my material and told me that he thought all religion was man-made, so I gave him a case for the reliability of the Bible and why Christ ought to be trusted. He was very interested and listened carefully to all that I had to say.

I talked to 2 different older couples at different times that both stopped by to see what I was up to. I got to tell them what Smith lied about, how different the LDS God is from the God of the Bible, and how much I love LDS that I try and warn them before it is too late.

I also talked to a guy named Shannon, who walked over to me from across the street after finishing his shift in directing traffic. Almost as soon as I began talking to him, a couple of older ladies came by to give me dinner and they joined in on the conversation. Pat and Darlene were both Christians, and Pat was an ex-Mormon. Shannon was very polite and interested in listening to many of the problems we had with Mormonism.

At the end of the night, this older couple stopped right in the street to ask me if I was all right and needed a place to stay. I said, “I'm fine and have a place to stay.” Then I told them that they were holding up traffic and needed to pull over. As soon as I said that, I backed up quickly because they were rear-ended by this dark SUV traveling at full speed! The white car went over the sidewalk onto the grass.

Thank God everyone appeared to be all right! I checked on the older couple and their necks were a little sore. His chest was sore from the seat belt. The driver of the SUV was a young guy probably 18 to 20, and there were 2 teenage girls. They were all crying, so I prayed for the girls and then I prayed for the guy. The ambulance came and took him in as a precaution. I gave him my card.

I found out that the driver of the white car is the stake president named Harold Taylor! I also gave him my card.

The head of LDS security kindly asked me how I was, then another security guy told me that what I was doing with my sign wasn't worth it and claimed that I caused this, since they were distracted by me. I told him that they could have been distracted by any sign and I would have been on the other side of the street anyway if they didn't bar me from using the public sidewalk! Then the shop owner, who cussed me out the last couple days and called a cop on me to get me to move from being right outside his shop on the public sidewalk, told me when I was leaving that I had caused this and he was going to be my nemesis until I left town.

Pat and DarleneThe crash was horrific to watch! I really wanted to rock the boat in this town, but wow! I’m sure the word got around pretty quickly in such a small LDS town!

The last day, I spent about 8½ hours putting out around 480 temple opening papers (www.SacredOrSecret.com) door to door, since the temple was closed for General Conference.

As for the web site traffic, the first 2 days had Wyoming in first among all the states! I had 14 hits the first day, and 26 for the second. The third day, WY came in second with 18. The fourth day, WY was tied for second with 11. The fifth day, in which I wasn’t even there, WY came in fourth with 10. Now this certainly isn’t as impressive as what happened at the Ft. Collins, CO temple opening, but keep in mind that the whole week prior to me going to WY, I only had 1 hit!

I leave tomorrow for a week of evangelism outside the Hartford, CT LDS temple. Please pray that many would be open to getting my perspective via my web site. According to a buddy of mine, who was there last week, this will also be another outreach that is almost exclusively advertising my web site. Pray that travel would go smoothly, that the weather would cooperate, that God would protect my family while I’m gone, and that I’ll do a good job speaking at Fishkill, NY Baptist Church on the 16th.

We had one of those testimonies last month that needs to be turned into a book and then a movie! Addam and Charolette Swapp’s story may be watched here and you may see the pictures here.

We Need Your Partnership!

We not only need your prayers, but we need your financial assistance as well. Keep in mind that your investment is not simply for us, but for the lives of others we reach with the gospel. The standard way to financially invest is by writing a check to Courageous Christians United (CCU). For more information on various ways to invest in this ministry, including online giving, please see our “Invest” page on any of our sites. Please keep in mind we have no financial guarantees each month. Ministry partners come and go. If you’re not a partner, please consider joining our team and let us know soon. We’d love to be your missionaries here in Utah. Many thanks to those of you who hold us up in prayer and in your financial giving!

In order to gain greater stability over our monthly budget, we need 50 people to give $10 a month. We also need 45 people to give $25. 24 people that can give $50. 12 people that can give $100. I'm asking you to commit to at least either 12 or 24 months. Check back in this section every month to see how we’re doing!

We expect God to provide for our needs through you. Why? Because the Bible is clear: “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14).

1. Health and protection for our whole family
2. Tara’s family to be saved
3. Wisdom in all our dealings
4. Strength to keep going

****MAILBAG****

[In reference to my video of me preaching at the Star Valley temple, I received this Facebook post:] People say this is not loving, and not the way to witness to people. I say it can't get more loving than this!!!! A famous atheist, after receiving a tract or a small New Testament from a street preacher, said,

“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me along and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.” - Penn Jillette

Even though Rob Sivulka and I don't know each other very well he is probably one of the bravest men that's walked on earth because God has given him a task and he doesn't walk or run away he runs to it!! Have had conversations with people saying this is terrible and his is not the way to do things. Yet, what are you doing to bring others to Christ?
________________

Why are you so devoted to tear us down? It's called religious freedom
________________

I noticed many of your quotations come from non-Scripture sources. I am a Christian, not a member of LDS church, so I have an objective viewpoint. You can't possibly think quoting some man's opinion about God, such as Joseph Smith, is the same a Scripture revelation? There are many men that create false notions of God. Although you seem to conveniently remove the fact that Jehovah visited Abraham in Genesis 18:1 in the form of a man. I believe the Body of Christ is one Body, and many Latter Day Christians will be part of the Body. They do not believe in "another Jesus"...God really did visit them and they are the only church that was severely persecuted for their faith in Christ. There's no such thing as a Mormon...a person is either a servant of Christ or some other cause...a Christian who some other god. If people study the Scriptures given to Joseph Smith, they are truly phenomenal, and there is no way they originate from man. I was just curious why none of your anti-Mormon arguments are using the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine and Covenants.

[Tara replied:] As a former Mormon, I can tell you LDS have a different Jesus. In Mormonism he is our older brother, concevied by a heavenly mother and father. LDS do not believe who Christ is as laid out in John 1. Therefore they are false Christians, worshipping a false Christ. I am a exmormon Christian living in Utah so trust me LDS are not the only ones facing persecution.

[I replied:] Is there something wrong with using any non-scripture sources? If I quote you, I'm using a non-scripture source, so what's the problem? There are plenty of scripture sources from the Bible, and then there are plenty of non-scripture sources including the false scripture of the LDS Church. The quotes I utilize from Joseph Smith, for example, are in keeping with everything else I quote from the LDS Church. Do you have an example of a quote from Smith that I use that isn't what LDS teach? And are you assuming that if I quote from let's say "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" that I'm assuming it's LDS scripture? Why can't I still quote it as an authoritative source? If it's not, and you're making the claim, then the onus is on you to show how it's not.

As far as the theophany in Genesis goes, God can appear any way He wants to, but that doesn't entail that's what He is in His nature. God the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove in Luke 3:22, but you and I both know the HS isn't a dove in His nature. The Bible tells us what God's nature is and what it's not. His nature is God (Gal. 4:8) and not man (Hos. 11:9). He's the creator of all things, including the physical, so of course He's not a man even though He can certainly show up as one like He did in the man Jesus of Nazareth.

Your beliefs concerning LDS being part of the Body are irrelevant if LDS as well as you hold to a false god, who is eternally a man by nature. False gods and false Christs actually put one outside the Body of Christ making him or her a false Christian.

Finally, you're last sentence is myopic, since you obviously haven't read all that I've argued against the BM and the D&C. Please spend more time reading more of my site.